Generation Why

I start every morning the same way. I get to the office around 7, boot up the computer and check email to see what pressing matters have come up in other timezones that start their days before I do. I then proceed to my Google Homepage where I have set up RSS feeds for my favorite marketing-specific blogs (Seth Godin, Customer Experience Matters, Church of the Customer, etc). I take a quick read then hit the ground running.

Today, more than any other day, I have Gen Y issues on the brain. It started with an email-based newsletter article from The Emmerich Group (Roxanne Emmerich is a guru of bank marketing and the author of several books). Roxanne writes,

"In the last week alone, five CEOs told me they won't hire (Millenniums/GenY) anymore. I hadn't even brought it up! One said he can't figure out why they are so self-consumed. Despite all the best efforst to engage them, he said, they are only looking out for themselves."

And it's true. All of the research from all of the sources we have come across confirm that getting rich is the most important life goal for this group. Emmerich quotes one CEO as saying,

"They are used to getting positive reinforcement every few seconds with video games, they had a graduation party for graduating kindergarten and received stars for EVERY little accomplishment. If someone isn't telling them how great they are every three minutes on the job, they start looking for a different employer who will."

That that's not the end of it. Bruce Temkin with Forrester Research writes in his blog, Customer Experience Matters, that Generation Y is a different breed altogether. He expresses concern for thier skills to do basic math (with a paper and pencil and no cellphone calculator) and their ability to spell. Microsoft's spell checker and Google's "did you mean" have encouraged a phenomenon called "close enough spelling."

So what is the point in all of this? The point is that Generation Y demands to be treated differently, more special. Because we know this generation is full of webies (that's my term for people who spend more time on line than in face to face interaction) we will need to communicate with them differently. They still have banking needs, and if they really put their minds to it and reach for that goal of being rich, you will want them on your team (or in your portfolio at least!).

Social media is not going away, and if anything, is growing at warp speed. That's not saying that all banks need to go out and create a MySpace page, but I am saying that your website needs to be intuitive, comprehensive, and Google-able. That's a great place to start!

As you create your list of needs and wants for this year, I would recommend that you put a generational marketing plan in the need column. As Generation Y approaches their mid-20s you will want to be prepared to communicate with them in their language and through their preferred communication mechanisms. Even if that means using AIM, poking in Facebook, or tracking in Twitter. (Google those. To be an expert you need to know what you are up against!)

Happy Thursday!
Jenna